Governments and donors have spent billions of dollars since the 1992 Rio Earth Summit attempting to slow the pace of species extinctions around the world. Now, a new paper in Nature provides the first clear evidence that those efforts are working.
The study by an international team of researchers found that the $14.4 billion that countries spent on conservation from 1992 to 2003 reduced expected declines in global biodiversity by 29 percent. The findings could be used by policymakers to set conservation budgets that would allow their countries to meet the goals of international species protection agreements.
"This paper sends a clear, positive message: Conservation funding works," said senior author John Gittleman, dean of the Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia.
The study, led by Anthony Waldron of Oxford University, the University of Illinois, and the National University of Singapore, shows that conservation spending by 109 signatories of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity significantly reduced biodiversity loss in those countries.
To accurately explain the impact of conservation funding by country, the researchers incorporated information about changes to each country's biodiversity from 1996 to 2008 as well as government and nongovernmental organization spending targeted toward protecting biodiversity from 1992 to 2003, which researchers say allowed enough lag time for that spending to have had an impact. The researchers also examined how human development placed stress on species and their habitats.
Among the study's findings were that 60 percent of the world's biodiversity loss could be attributed to seven countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, China, India, Australia and, principally driven by species loss in Hawaii, the U.S. Meanwhile, another seven countries -- Mauritius, Seychelles, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Poland and Ukraine -- saw their biodiversity improve.
"The good news is that a lot of biodiversity would be protected for relatively little cost by investments in developing countries with high numbers of species," said Gittleman. He added that it was important to note that as development pressures increase, conservation spending will have to keep pace. Policymakers could use the model to determine these budgets.
"This model provides a framework we can use to balance human development with maintaining biodiversity," said Gittleman. "In my view, this is an empirical scientific framework of true sustainability."
By providing evidence that conservation funding has already had a significant impact on the protection of global biodiversity, the authors hope that more countries will be motivated to invest in meeting international biodiversity commitments.
"For 25 years, we have known that we need to spend more on nature conservation, or face a modern mass extinction as serious as that of the dinosaurs," said Waldron. "But governments and donors have been unwilling to come up with the necessary budgets, often because there was little hard evidence that the money spent on conservation does any good. This finding should now encourage decision makers to re-engage with the Earth Summit's positive vision, and adequately bankroll the protection of Earth's biodiversity today."
To determine a measurement of biodiversity loss for each country, the authors used data from the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species, which has tracked the conservation status of the world's plant and animal species for more than 50 years. They determined how much of a species' decline could be attributed to each country chiefly based on what proportion of the species' range was in that country.
Information about annual conservation spending per country was drawn from an earlier publication by the same authors, which appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2013. That paper covered the period from 1992 -- when the Rio Earth Summit led to the Convention on Biological Diversity and the first major infusion of global conservation spending -- to 2003.
To account for pressure put on species as countries made progress on another of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals -- human development -- the authors incorporated data about each country's population growth, economic growth and agricultural expansion from World Bank statistical tables.
The resulting analysis showed that conservation spending reduced species decline and that development pressure increased it, but unevenly. A country's size, number of species present, and the conservation status of those species at the start of the study period all played a role in determining its biodiversity decline score.
Conservation spending had a greater impact in poorer countries than wealthier ones, for instance, and in countries with greater numbers of threatened species. Agricultural expansion had very little effect in countries that already had a lot of farmland than in those with little, and economic growth had less effect in the poorest countries, although its impacts grew stronger as a country's population increased.
Story Source:
Materials provided by University of Georgia. Original written by Beth Gavrilles. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

From North Dakota to Ohio to Pennsylvania, hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, has transformed small towns into energy powerhouses. While some see the new energy boom as benefiting the local economy and decreasing U.S. reliance on foreign oil, others fear the potential health and environmental consequences that come along with fracking.
Health risks increase for infants born to mothers living within 2 miles of a hydraulic fracturing site, according to a study published Dec. 13 in Science Advances. The research team found that infants born within a half a mile from a fracking site were 25 percent more likely to be born at low birth weights, leaving them at greater risk of infant mortality, ADHD, asthma, lower test scores, lower schooling attainment and lower lifetime earnings.
"Given the growing evidence that pollution affects babies in utero, it should not be surprising that fracking, which is a heavy industrial activity, has negative effects on infants," said co-author Janet M. Currie, the Henry Putnam Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University. "As local and state policymakers decide whether to allow hydraulic fracturing in their communities, it is crucial that they carefully examine the costs and benefits, including the potential impacts from pollution," said study co-author Michael Greenstone, the Milton Friedman Professor in Economics and director of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago. "This study provides the strongest large-scale evidence of a link between the pollution that stems from hydraulic fracturing activities and our health, specifically the health of babies."
Using records from more than 1.1 million births across Pennsylvania from 2004 to 2013, the researchers compared infants born to mothers living near a drilling site to those living farther away from a site, before and after fracking began at that site.
The most significant impacts were seen among babies born within .6 miles of a site, as those babies were 25 percent more likely to be low birth weight, that is born under 5.5 pounds.
Infants born to mothers living between half a mile and 2 miles saw their risk of low birth weight decrease by about a half to a third. Infants born to mothers living beyond 2 miles experienced little to no impact to their health.
"These results suggest that hydraulic fracturing does have an impact on our health, though the good news is that this is only at a highly localized level," said Currie, who directs the Center for Health and Wellbeing at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. "Out of the nearly 4 million babies born in the United States each year, about 29,000 of them are born within about a half mile of a fracking site."
"While we know pollution from hydraulic fracturing impacts our health, we do not yet know where that pollution is coming from -- from the air or water, from chemicals onsite, or an increase in traffic," said co-author Katherine Meckel, assistant professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. "Until we can determine the source of this pollution and contain it, local lawmakers will be forced to continue to make the difficult decision of whether to allow fracking in order to boost their local economies -- despite the health implications -- or ban it altogether, missing out on the jobs and revenue it would bring."
This study follows previous work by Currie, Greenstone and others on the local economic benefits, which found the average household living near a hydraulic fracturing site benefits by as much as $1,900 per year. This was because of a 7 percent increase in average income, driven by rises in wages and royalty payments, a 10 percent increase in employment, and a 6 percent increase in housing prices. However, the authors cautioned that the housing prices could change if further information about the environmental and health impacts of hydraulic fracturing were revealed.
"Housing prices are not fixed; they are based on many factors including how well the job market is and how safe the area is to live in," Currie said. "As these results and others on the health impacts from hydraulic fracturing become mainstreamed into the consciousness of homeowners and home buyers, the local economic benefits could decrease."
Story Source:
Materials provided by Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Original written by B. Rose Kelly. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

After years of progress, the median earnings gap between black and white men has returned to what it was in 1950, according to new research by economists from Duke University and the University of Chicago.
The experience of African-American men is not uniform, though: The earnings gap between black men with a college education and those with less education is at an all-time high, the authors say.
The research appears online in the National Bureau of Economic Research working paper series.
The paper looks at earnings for working-age men across a span of 75 years, from 1940 to 2014. The earnings gap between black and white men narrowed during the civil rights era. Then, starting around 1970, the gap between black and white men's wages started widening once again.
"When it comes to the earnings gap between black and white men, we've gone all the way back to 1950," said Duke economist Patrick Bayer, who co-authored the paper with Kerwin Kofi Charles of the University of Chicago.
The picture for black men looks very different at the top of the economic ladder versus the bottom, the authors say. Since the 1960s, top black salaries have continued to climb. Those advances were fueled by more equal access to universities and high-skilled professions, the study finds.
Meanwhile, a starkly different story transpired at the bottom of the economic ladder. Massive increases in incarceration rates and the general decline of working-class jobs have devastated the labor market prospects of men with a high school degree or less, the authors say.
The changing economy has been hard on all workers with less than a high school education, but especially devastating for black men, Bayer said.
"The broad economic changes we've seen since the 1970s have clearly helped people at the top of the ladder," Bayer said. "But the labor market for low-skilled workers has basically collapsed.
"Back in 1940 there were plenty of jobs for men with less than a high school degree. Now education is more and more a determinant of who's working and who's not."
In fact, more and more working-age men in the United States aren't working at all. The number of nonworking white men grew from about 8 percent in 1960 to 17 percent in 2014. The numbers look still worse among black men: In 1960, 19 percent of black men were not working; in 2014, that number had grown to 35 percent of black men. That includes men who are incarcerated as well those who can't find jobs.
"The rate at which men are not working has been skyrocketing, and it's not simply the result of the Great Recession," Bayer said. "It's a big part of what's been happening to our economy over the past 40 years."
The situation would be even worse if not for educational gains among African-Americans over the past 75 years, Bayer said.
On average, black men today have many more years of schooling than black men of the past, and the education gap between white and black men has shrunk considerably. Nevertheless, a gap remains: These days, black men have about a year's less education than white men, on average.
"In essence, the economic benefits that should have come from the substantial gains in education for black men over the past 75 years have been completely undone by the changing economy, which exacts an ever steeper price for the differences that still remain," Bayer said.
The findings show the need for renewed focus on closing racial gaps in education and school quality, which have been stuck in place for several decades, according to the authors. They also suggest that any economic changes that improve prospects for all low-skilled workers will have the important side effect of reducing racial economic inequality.
"We clearly need to create better job opportunities for everyone in the lower rungs of the economic ladder, where work has become increasingly hard to come by," Bayer said.
Find the report online at: http://www.nber.org/papers/w22797
Story Source:
Materials provided by Duke University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Warren Buffett and Tony Robbins agree that the most important investment you can make is in yourself.
And when it comes to investing your money and saving up for retirement , Buffett and Robbins are also in sync: They both recommend investing in index funds. Especially if you're young and/or new to the market.
"Consistently buy an S&P 500 low-cost index fund," Buffett recently told CNBC's On The Money . "I think it's the thing that makes the most sense practically all of the time."
Index funds hold every stock in an index such as the S&P 500, including big-name companies such as Apple, Microsoft and Google, and offer low turnover rates, so their fees and tax bills tend to be low as well.
Because this type of fund ebbs and flows with the market, it stays relatively constant and avoids the risk that comes with picking individual stocks.
"The trick is not to pick the right company; the trick is to essentially buy all the big companies through the S&P 500 and to do it consistently and to do it in a very, very low cost way," he told On The Money.
Buffett even says that investing in index funds would be the advice he'd leave for his wife if anything were to happen to him. And the Oracle of Omaha has put his money where his mouth is, too: He made a bet that, over a ten-year period, low-cost index funds would outperform hedge funds , and so far he seems to be justified .
Robbins also stands by index funds. In a recent interview with Business Insider, he says that it's crucial to diversify your investments, and that index funds are a good place to start. "You can't put all of [your money] in one place," Robbins tells Business Insider.
Robbins goes into more detail on index funds in his book "Unshakeable," in which he explains that funds eliminate the human error — and therefore the risk — that is inherent in picking stocks individually.
"Index funds take a 'passive' approach that eliminates almost all trading activity," he writes.
Because humans aren't actively managing index funds, they also aren't actively making mistakes. "When you own an index fund, you're also protected against all the downright dumb, mildly misguided or merely unlucky decisions that active fund managers are liable to make," Robbins writes.
Source:
Emmie Martin
CNBCMay 18, 2017

The United States Department of Justice has announced that a special counsel has been appointed to investigate Russian interference into last year's presidential election and links or coordination with the campaign of President Donald Trump.
Former FBI Director Robert Mueller was assigned by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to "oversee the previously-confirmed FBI investigation of Russian government efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election, and related matters."
In a statement, Rosenstein said, "My decision is not a finding that crimes have been committed or that any prosecution is warranted. I have made no such determination. What I have determined is that based upon the unique circumstances, the public interest requires me to place this investigation under the authority of a person who exercises a degree of independence from the normal chain of command."
"I accept this responsibility and will discharge it to the best of my ability," said Mueller in a statement.
Mueller will have 60 days to put together a budget for resources to conduct the investigation and that budget must be approved by Rosenstein. Attorney General Jeff Sessions previously recused himself from all matters related to the presidential campaign.
"Special Counsel Mueller will have all appropriate resources to conduct a thorough and complete investigation, and I am confident that he will follow the facts, apply the law and reach a just result," said Rosenstein in the statement.
Justice Department officials were in touch with Mueller within days of the firing of FBI Director James Comey last week. Comey confirmed in March that the bureau was actively investigating Russian influence and collusion with the Trump campaign.
As special counsel, Mueller can be expected to have the full powers and independent authority to exercise all investigative and prosecutorial functions of any United States attorney. These powers include the ability to take matters before a grand jury, issue subpoenas and assign federal agents to the case.
The White House was informed of the decision less than an hour before it was publicly announced Wednesday and released a statement from the president over two hours later.
"As I have stated many times, a thorough investigation will confirm what we already know -- there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity," read the statement from Trump. "I look forward to this matter concluding quickly. In the meantime, I will never stop fighting for the people and the issues that matter most to the future of our country."
Administration officials have previously said that they see no need for a special counsel. On Monday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the investigations led by committees in the House and Senate, plus the FBI, were sufficient.
"I don’t know why you need additional resources when you already have three entities," said Spicer.
Mueller, 72, served as FBI director for 12 years after his nomination by President George W. Bush in 2001. Prior to leading the bureau, Mueller was the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California and served as an assistant attorney general in between stints in private practice. He joined law firm WilmerHale as a partner in 2014 but resigned "immediately upon his appointment" Wednesday, according to a firm spokesperson.
The appointment of Mueller as special counsel comes amid a fraught week for the Trump administration. On Tuesday, ABC News learned from sources that Comey, Mueller's successor at the FBI, was asked by Trump in February to end the bureau's investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Comey then wrote of the request in a memo he shared with top FBI associates.
Flynn was fired after it was revealed that he misled administration officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, about the nature of his conversations with Russian officials, including Russia's Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak, prior to Trump's inauguration.
On Monday, it was uncovered that Trump shared classified intelligence with Russian officials, one of whom was Kislyak, during a meeting at the White House last week. The president later said he had the "absolute right" to disclose the information, even as members of his administration disputed the story.
ABC News' Jack Date contributed to this report.

Neutrinos are a type of particle that pass through just about everything in their path from even the most distant regions of the universe. The Earth is constantly bombarded by billions of neutrinos, which zip right through the entire globe, houses, animals, people -- everything. Only very rarely do they react with matter, but the giant IceCube experiment at the South Pole can detect when there is a collision between neutrinos and atoms in the ice using a network of detectors. New research results from the Niels Bohr Institute among others have measured the neutrinos at the South Pole and have calculated some of the physical properties of the otherwise exotic and poorly understood particles. The results are published in the scientific journal Physical Review D.
Neutrinos are among nature's most abundant particles. Their number far exceeds the number of atoms in the entire universe -- yet we know little about them. Neutrinos are a type of particle created in the Big Bang and are also produced in the Sun's interior and in violent events like supernovae, which are exploding stars. Neutrinos are also called 'ghost particles' because they basically do not interact with matter, but pass undisturbed through everything in their path.
Instruments at the South Pole
Researchers from 44 institutions in 12 countries are part of an international project, IceCube at the South Pole to study the mysterious particles with the strange properties.
IceCube is an enormous particle detector located deep in the ice at the South Pole. The instruments in the detector are composed of 86 cables each with 60 digital Optical Modules (extremely sensitive light sensors). Each cable is lowered down into a hole, which is melted through the 2½ km ice sheer using a hot water drill. The detector is located deep below the surface -- it starts 1½ km below the ice and ends at the bottom at a depth of 2½ km.
The detector's enormous size of a cubic kilometer is necessary because neutrinos interact extremely weakly with matter, so it is only rarely that they collide with the atoms in the ice. When they finally collide, charged particles are created, which emit radiation that can be detected by the extremely sensitive Digital Optical Modules.
"In the Ice Cube project we have registered about 35 neutrinos, which are very likely to have come distant regions in space. They have a very high energy and because they have not interacted during their long journey, they can carry information from the most distant parts of the universe. In addition to the rare cosmic neutrinos, we are also studying the neutrinos created in the Earth's atmosphere in order to unravel the physical properties of neutrinos," says Jason Koskinen, Assistant Professor and head of the IceCube Group at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen.
From the North Pole to the South Pole
When particles (protons) with high energy -- from violent events in the cosmos like supernovae and quasars hit the Earth's atmosphere, a burst of neutrinos is formed, which passes through the Earth. The neutrinos formed over the North Pole pass straight through the Earth and very small proportion of them hit the ice at the South Pole, where the IceCube detector registers the collisions.
Neutrinos are very light particles and for many years it was believed that they were completely massless. It is now believed that there are three types of neutrinos (electron, muon and tau neutrinos), each with their specific mass, which is incredibly small -- less than a millionth of the mass of an electron.
"The neutrinos created in the atmosphere over the North Pole are mostly muon neutrinos. On their way through the Earth's 13,000 km, the muon neutrinos undergo quantum fluctuations that can change them into another type of neutrino, tau neutrinos, before they are finally detected by IceCube on the other side of the globe. We can now study these effects in much greater detail than before and in this way we can gain new insights into their physical characteristics," explains Jason Koskinen.
Atmospheric neutrinos
The research group has now studied atmospheric neutrinos in the IceCube detector at the South Pole for three years and have analysed 5,200 interactions between atmospheric neutrinos and atoms in the ice.
"We have confirmed that neutrinos undergo fluctuations -- even at high energy levels and we have calculated how much they exhibit these oscillations. In this study, we have only measured muon neutrinos and in comparison to how many muon neutrinos form in in the atmosphere and pass through the Earth, we only see a fraction at the South Pole. The explanation is that the muon neutrinos undergo quantum fluctuations that change them into tau neutrinos and we do not see those. If they had not changed, we would see them all. Our calculations show that 20 percent have undergone quantum fluctuations and changed from muon neutrinos to another type of neutrino as they pass through the Earth," explains Jason Koskinen.
Messengers from the universe
And then what, you might ask? "Because we basically want to learn more about these strange particles that are everywhere in the universe and whose properties we still do not fully understand. Because neutrinos come from the cosmos, we could use them for astronomical observations and gain new insights into the structure of the universe," says Jason Koskinen.
Story Source:
Materials provided by University of Copenhagen - Niels Bohr Institute. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Global carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels did not grow in 2015 and are projected to rise only slightly in 2016, marking three years of almost no growth, according to researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) and the Global Carbon Project.
The projected rise of only 0.2% for 2016 marks a clear break from the rapid emissions growth of 2.3% per year in the decade to 2013, with just 0.7 per cent growth seen in 2014.
The new data is published in the journal Earth System Science Data. It shows emissions growth remained below 1 per cent despite GDP growth exceeding 3 per cent.
Decreased use of coal in China is the main reason behind the 3-year slowdown.
Prof Corinne Le Quéré, Director of the Tyndall Centre at UEA who led the data analysis, said: "This third year of almost no growth in emissions is unprecedented at a time of strong economic growth. This is a great help for tackling climate change but it is not enough. Global emissions now need to decrease rapidly, not just stop growing."
China -- the biggest emitter of CO2 at 29 per cent -- saw emissions decrease by 0.7 per cent in 2015, compared to growth of more than 5 percent per year the previous decade. A further reduction of 0.5 per cent is projected for 2016, though with large uncertainties.
The USA, the second biggest emitter of CO2 at 15 per cent, also reduced its coal use while increasing its oil and gas consumption and saw emissions decrease 2.6 per cent last year. USA emissions are projected to decrease by 1.7 per cent in 2016.
The EU's 28 member states are the third largest emitter causing 10 per cent of emissions. The EU's CO2 emissions went up 1.4 percent in 2015, in contrast with longer term decreases.
India contributed 6.3 per cent of all global CO2 emissions, with their emissions increasing 5.2 percent, in 2015 continuing a period of strong growth.
Although the break in emissions rise ties in with the pledges by countries to decrease emissions until 2030, it falls short of the reductions needed to limit climate change well below 2 degrees Celsius.
Prof Le Quéré said: "If climate negotiators in Marrakesh can build momentum for further cuts in emissions, we could be making a serious start to addressing climate change."
The Global Carbon Budget analysis also shows that, in spite of a lack of growth in emissions, the growth in atmospheric CO2 concentration was a record-high in 2015, and could be a record again in 2016 due to weak carbon sinks.
Prof Le Quéré said: "Part of the CO2 emissions are absorbed by the ocean and by trees. With temperatures soaring in 2015 and 2016, less CO2 was absorbed by trees because of the hot and dry conditions related to the El Niño event. Atmospheric CO2 levels have exceeded 400 parts per million (ppm) and will continue to rise and cause the planet to warm until emissions are cut down to near zero."
The Global Carbon Project's estimation of global CO2 emissions and their fate in the atmosphere, land and ocean is a major effort by the research community to bring together measurements, statistics on human activities, with analysis of model results.
Prof Le Quéré stressed the need for reporting such as the Global Carbon Budget to inform decisions and actions on how to respond to climate change.
Dr Glen Peters of the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research in Norway, who co-authored the analysis, said: "Emissions growth in the next few years will depend on whether energy and climate policies can lock in the new trends, and importantly, raise the ambition of emission pledges to be more consistent with the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement."
Source:University of East Anglia

Cambodia's economy is forecast to remain robust over the next two years, driven by garment export, construction, and services, according to an Economy and Finance Ministry report released on Tuesday.
The ministry's mid-year macroeconomic report said the gross domestic product (GDP) is forecast to grow by around 7 percent in 2016 and the same rate is expected in 2017.
"The growth for this year and the next will be driven by garment export, construction, and services," Economy and Finance Ministry Secretary of State Vongsey Vissoth said, adding that agriculture is expected to see a slow growth due to severe drought early this year.
According to the report, growth in industry is projected at 11.4 percent this year, slightly down from 11.7 percent last year, due to a slowdown in construction activities.
Service sector is expected to expand by 6.7 percent, down from the last year's 7.1 percent due to slowing growth of tourist arrivals, it said, adding that agriculture is projected to grow by 0.5 percent.
The report said foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to Cambodia is forecast to slow down to 7.1 percent in 2016 and 6.9 percent in 2017, from 7.6 percent in 2015.
Annual inflation, after trending down to 1.2 percent in 2015, is likely to edge up to 2.8 percent in 2016 and 3.7 percent in 2017, on the back of an expected turnaround in international oil prices from its last year's unusually low levels.
The report noticed that the country's robust economic outlook for this year and the next could be derailed if China's economy slows down drastically or if international financial market volatility that has been lingering on after the "Brexit" suddenly exacerbates.
"Cambodia's economy has strong economic links to China's economy through official development assistance, FDI flows and tourist arrivals," it said.
Source China Securities Journal

South Korea's budget plan topped 400 trillion won (360 billion U.S. dollars) for the first time on the back of rising welfare demand, a government report showed on Tuesday.
The government-proposed budget plan for 2017 was 400.7 trillion won, up 14.3 trillion won, or 3.7 percent, from the previous year, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance. It was faster growth than a 2.9 percent increase for this year.
The cabinet meeting was held to fix the 2017 budget bill that would be submitted to the National Assembly on Friday.
If approved, the 2017 budget would more than quadruple in the past two decades. South Korea's national budget topped 100 trillion won in 2001, rising to 200 trillion won in 2005 and 300 trillion won in 2011.
Budget for welfare, health and labor would surpass 130 trillion won for the first time, up 5.3 percent from the previous year. The welfare budget's portion kept a record-breaking trend at 32.4 percent of the total.
Allotted budget for job creation would increase 10.7 percent, with those for youths jumping 15 percent.
Gross national income is forecast at 414.5 trillion won for 2017, up 6 percent from a year earlier. Among them, national revenue is expected to rise 8.4 percent to 241.8 trillion won.
The government set its outlook for 2017 real gross domestic product (GDP) growth at 3.0 percent.
Government debts are projected to reach 683 trillion won in 2017, up 38 trillion won from a year ago. The ratio of government debts to GDP is expected to rise from 40.1 percent to 40.4 percent next year.
Source China Securities Journal

A group in Japan is launching a test involving airborne delivery of medicines as part of the plan to make drones play a crucial role during disasters.
To be conducted from fall until March, the trials will enable Japanese first responders to determine whether the transport of medical supplies during emergencies is faster by air than on land.
The tests, which will also focus on making airborne delivery accurate and resilient to weather conditions, will be carried out at the Kyushu University campus in Fukuoka city and other locations in Saga city.
“Drones add more options for rescuers to reach patients,” Yusuke Enjoji, an official in the Saga Prefectural Government, told The Japan Times.
Enjoji is the chief executive of the Emergency Medical and Disaster Coping Automated Drones Support System Utilization Promotion Council (EDAC), the group behind the project, which is funded by the Japanese internal affairs ministry as part of the drive to promote the Internet of things (IOT).
The council is hoping that rescuers could be able to use drones that will first respond to emergency calls delivering medicines and help describe the situation before they arrive.
Once the project succeeds, EDAC hopes to deploy drones in the capital Tokyo, where a no-drone zone is imposed by the national government for security reasons.
“Drones, the internet of things, self-driving cars and artificial intelligence … many cutting-edge technologies are emerging quickly. But we have not used them to their full potential as many people are still wary,” Enjoji said.
As the use of drones is becoming more popular in Japan, many companies across the country are now offering services using the technology.
Tokyo online advertising firm MicroAd Inc. unveiled a service using drones that create logos, shapes and pictures through LED lights during outdoor events. Called the “Sky Magic," the service develops a system that synchronizes the movements of drones that are each equipped with hundreds of lights.
In Chiba Prefecture, e-commerce company Rakuten Inc. delivers golf balls and light meals to customers on golf courses through its drones, which can carry items of up to two kilograms.
Since 2012, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East Corp. has been using drones for inspections and recovery works during disasters. Its flying machines can carry cable wires for emergency repairs of its facilities in devastated areas.
Along with self-driving tractors, drones are expected to make a huge impact on the farming sector in Japan, a country where the agricultural workforce is rapidly aging. Drones can be used to monitor soil conditions, making farming easier.
"We are seeing growing demand for farm equipment that can be operated easily, even by those who are not familiar with farm work," said Kubota president Masatoshi Kimata.
Source Digital Journal

First, as for the global residential Brass Rods industry, the industry concentration rate is highly dispersed. The top 5 manufacturers have 30.61% sales revenue market share in 2017. The Wieland which has 7.62% sales market share in 2017, is the leader in the Brass Rods industry. The manufacturers following Wieland are Daechang and KME, which respectively has 6.51% and 6.46% sales market share globally.
Browse Related Reports:
Global Brass Rods Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022
Global (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa) Brass Rods Market 2017 Forecast to 2022
Second, the global consumption of Brass Rods products rises up from 2380 K Ton in 2012 to 2840 K Ton in 2017, with CAGR of 4.52%. At the same time, the revenue of world Brass Rods sales market has a rise from 11807.52 M USD to 13683.32 M USD. The reason causes this increase is the growing demand for the Brass Rods products, which is the result of the spurring needs of downstream customers, especially for Automobile.
Third, as for the Brass Rods market, it will still show slow growth, and technological trends in the market will stay stable.
Fourth, market growth for Brass Rods is expected to growth at a CAGR of 3.17% from 2017 to 2022, reaching 16567.95 M USD by 2022.
GLOBAL INFO RESEARCH ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Contact us:
Tel:00852-58197708 (HK)
Email:sales@globalinforesearch.com